Road Trip 2012

Our first big roadtrip with the girls and it was a blast!  It definitely helped that we were able to break up our trip into manageable drives every other day or two, that we had family and friends on the way to see, and that our girls did amazing both in the car for the drives and in the homes for sleep!

This is such a fun age and stage for the two of them and this trip couldn't have come at a better time for us to bond, reflect on Radical, and see where our new journey will take us!


Overall, in 10 days, we covered Vernon, Invermere, Banff, Calgary and Revelstoke... which also allowed us to visit with the Rokus family, Grandpa Bear & Grandma Pat, The Adams Family Reunion, Pat's parents and the Blommesteins!


There's lots to show and tell, so be warned, this is a VERY long post.  Good for you if you want to read the details, else go ahead and scroll through to see the pics.


Vernon: First stop was in Vernon to visit with Naomi and Alex.  We went to Paddlewheeler park for a picnic lunch and then had the chance to play around in Naomi's new gymnastics club.  Girls loved having full reign of the gym!

Picnic at Paddlewheeler Park

Loved Nome and Alex's garden progress - lots of veggies!

Invermere:  The next day we took off for the Mountain House.  We originally wanted to take the girls to 'The Enchanted Forest' on the way, but it was pouring rain and cold, so we stopped in at Josh's parents place in Revelstoke.  It was a nice quick break for lunch and the kids got to play with one another before we headed off.

Such a beautiful setting

This was the first time we'd taken Lily to visit Pat & Barry's place.  We had a very relaxing, peaceful and really awesome visit for 4 nights.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed the space and plentiful yard to ride tricycles, jump on a trampoline and feed the horses!  I found it a very soothing place to reflect on what happened at Radical and my new chapter... plus the views just take your breath away.

Girls really enjoyed feeding grass to Katie, Bonnie and Ruby

Nora & Grandma Pat show off their delicious rhubarb strawberry gluten free cupcakes! YUM!

The girls were awesome.  They adjusted really well to the late nights (it was so bright at night, it was very hard to put them down for bed any earlier than 10pm!), they loved the two cats (Stain and Bear), and put on performances and shows every day, almost after every meal for us.  Super super entertaining... they have such character!  Nora usually drives what they're performing on while Lily just loves to follow and mimic. 

"Ta Daaaa!" - A typical way the performance would end

We didn't have the greatest of weather in Invermere, in fact, pretty much rained every day.  So unfortunately, this time round we weren't able to swim at any lakes... next time!

Banff:  We headed off to meet up with Grammy and Grampy for the Adams (Janie's side) reunion, staying at Tunnel Mountain.  This was our first camping experience with the girls!  We turned down sleeping in Janie and Bill's trailer for the first night, as it was such a novelty for the girls in the tent.  They loved the sleeping bags and that we were all so bundled together.  But it was freezing that night and noisy!  Lots of chitter chatter and so many trains that were passing through Banff, their whistles were so loud and so many, so not the greatest of sleep.  So, we were more than happy to spend the 2nd night in Bill and Janie's trailer, oh so comfortable (and heat!).

Tent wasn't just for sleeping, they loved doing their colouring in there

Our campsite

Tunnel Mountain Campground... trailers everywhere!

Catching up with the Adams Family

The first night we went to the Banff Hot Springs - Nora really enjoyed the idea that the pools were outside, you could see the beautiful mountains all around and that we had gone later at night (past her bedtime!).  She even stayed awake on the drive home so she could have a special treat... marshmallows!


Calgary:  Since the drive was only 1.5 hours away, we drove into Calgary for the one day to visit with Pat's parents.  This was the first time they'd met Lily and the last time they saw Nora, she was just 6 months old...so this was an awesome time to catch up with them.  Then for lunch, we went to the Selkirk Grille at Heritage Park where Trav's cousin, Ian is the "Chef de Cuisine" there.  Very very delicious meal!  After that we ventured into Heritage Park, a great village set up of how life was like back in the very very olden days. 

Enjoying Chef Ian's cuisine at the Selkirk Grille, delicious!

There were rides and Trav was soooo excited when he heard Nora asking if she could go on the Ferris Wheel.  So, off they went... the two had the biggest smiles on their faces the whole time!  At one point, Nora told Trav that he didn't have to hold her hand (awwww), and then she raised her hands and screamed down to us, "Look Mom, no hands!" (eeeek!).  Thrill seeker that girl!

Lily's First Carousel ride

Nora high up in the sky on her first Ferris Wheel

Lake Louise:  On our way out of Banff we stopped in for a lunch visit to Lake Louise.   It is beautiful up there, love how grand the mountain is.  

Lake Louise

Johnson Lake: Even Red enjoyed her adventures with us

Revelstoke: Then it was onto our next stop, a day and night with the Blommesteins.  It was so nice to relax and watch the kids entertain themselves. We went into town to listen / watch a live band... the kids had a blast... dancing and hopping in the streets, super fun times!

One way to cool down in the heat, that... and the awesome sprinkler!

Lily wasn't a fan of the woodchopper's loud noises (he was sawing and making a chair)

Kids enjoying the music on the sidewalk

Enjoy this video of Lily dancing to the music:


And finally, on our way home, we stopped in Vernon again for one more night before finally making it back into downtown on Sunday evening.

And that's that...phew, what a long story!  Anyways, totally LOVED the family time and just being with the girls and Trav 100%.